“Vell.”

Vell Harlan snapped back to his senses. The world had blurred out of focus for a moment, as it had so many times through the past week. Skye leaned on his shoulder, dragging him further back into the real world.

“You were getting all fuzzy again.”

“Yeah. Sorry. Just...disoriented.”

He had somehow stumbled his way through the last week of classes, and time loops, in a haze. Losing Lee and Harley had been like losing two senses. Every time there was a problem he looked to Lee for orders and found only silence, every time he needed answers he looked for Harley and found only empty space. He’d managed to hold it together long enough to keep the world safe, but only barely. He wasn’t sure how he’d survive next year.

“You holding up alright?”

“As good as I can be,” Vell said. He sank back into reality in full, listening to the commotion of the train station around him. An Einstein-Odinson ferry had dropped many of the American students off at a coastal hub, and now Vell, Skye, and hundreds of other students were waiting for the rides that would take them home. They sat on the edge of the room, facing the wall, with all the crowds behind them, giving them some small semblance of privacy.

“Good. Because I’ve been sitting on something for a while, Vell,” Skye said. “And I think it’s time I confess my deep dark secret.”

A very small part of Vell’s reptile brain told him to panic, but he’d gotten very good at suppressing that part. He listened to the instincts of the much larger sarcastic part of his brain.

“Oh really, and what is that?”

“Well, Mr. Harlan, for the longest time I’ve been hiding the horrible truth,” Skye said.

She scooted across the bench to be a little bit closer to him, and whisper in his ear.

“Vell Harlan, I…”

She trailed off and left Vell waiting for a moment.

“-Love you,” she concluded.

“Hmm. I love you too,” Vell said. He leaned over to let Skye kiss him, and everything started to get a little clearer. If it was possible for him to genuinely love a Marine Biologist, maybe it was possible for him to get by without Lee and Harley.

A few seconds after the kiss came to an end, the transit hub’s PA dinged, and another travel announcement was made.

“Oh, that’s my first ride,” Skye said. “Hate to kiss and run, Vell, but I got to go.”

“Have fun in the Galapagos,” Vell said. “Poke a lot of fish, or whatever it is you plan to do.”

“I’d be offended, but you’re right, I will be poking many fish,” Skye said. She shouldered her bag and grabbed the rest of her luggage and started to wander away, blowing one more kiss to Vell as she did so.

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A hand with deep black skin reached up and snatched the kiss out of the air before it could reach Vell. He sighed, rolled his eyes, and let the rest of the universe fade into the background again, the way it always did when he was talking to Quenay. Everything fell dead silent as he focused on the Goddess.

“Howdy, Harlan,” Quenay said. “Here’s your kiss back.”

Quenay gave him a gentle pat on the cheek.

“She was going to miss.”

“Hi, Quenay,” Vell said. The last Goddess, in all her asymmetrical glory, stood before Vell once again. “Been a while since you’ve dropped in.”

“I wanted to let you process all the end of year stuff,” Quenay said. She orbited his head in a blur of midnight black and pure white. “I’m aware I can be distracting.”

“Maybe a little,” Vell said.

“I know, but I’m trying not to be a bother.”

“After everything you’ve done to me, you’re worried about being annoying?”

“Why are you saying ‘done to you’ like I’m some scheming monster?” Quenay said. “Everything I’ve ever done for you has been exclusively helpful. I brought you back from the dead after that train wreck, I put my ten-lined rune on your back, I brain-fried that principal who tried to steal your body, I even brought Kim to life to give you a buddy. How am I a villain here?”

“You’re not a bad guy, you’re just kind of problematic,” Vell said. “A mystery goddess brings me back from the dead and puts me on a quest to find the meaning of life, you can see how that might complicate my life, right?”

“Oh yeah, I see your point,” Quenay said. She turned to the side, exposing a completely new angle of her asymmetrical appearance. “Would it help if I said I’ve actually been a lot more proactive in helping you than I have any of my other dozens of competitors?”

“Not exactly,” Vell said.

“I am really pulling for you, Vell,” Quenay said. “I mean that, I’m rooting for you. I have given this test to dozens of other people throughout history, and I think you’re the first one who really has a shot at finding out the meaning of life. Which is especially good.”

“Why is it good?”

Quenay levitated off the ground and swooped through the air to hover closer to Vell, drifting around in front of him like the swaying pendulum of a grandfather clock.

“Because this time is the last time, Vell Harlan,” Quenay said. “I can only play this game for so long, you know. You are the lucky last-chance contestant, Vell Harlan. Humanity’s last, best hope to find the answer they’ve been looking for.”

If he hadn’t felt so dead inside already, Vell might have screamed in frustration. He settled for rolling his eyes and letting out a deep sigh. That ominous message tracked with everything he’d learned from the Butterfly Guy -and with the general ominous bullshit of his life.

“Don’t you think that’s a lot of pressure for just one guy?”

The grumbling frustration was all Vell could muster right now.

“It’s not just one guy,” Quenay said. “You’ve got friends. Admittedly, less of them than you did a while ago, sort of, but you know what I mean.”

“Thanks, very helpful,” Vell said.

“And hey, if you’re worried about sharing the burden, I’ve got some good news for you!”

“What’s that?”

Quenay drifted a little closer, bent down to be face to face with Vell, and she smiled a lopsided smile. Then she vanished.

“Should’ve expected that,” Vell said. He leaned back, rubbed his temples, and tried to let the background noise of life creep back in.

It didn’t. The silent room stayed silent.

After the longest two seconds of his life, Vell dared to turn around and face the room. Everyone in the lobby had frozen in place, all staring directly at him. Some of them had their phones out. Skye was standing at the front of the crowd, mouth covered in shock.

“Oh.”

Vell turned back to face the spot Quenay had been standing.

“You saw her, huh,” Vell said.

The entire crowd nodded.

“And heard her.”

Nod.

“And recorded her.”

Nod.

“Hm.”

The room was crowded, but still quiet enough that it echoed when Vell screamed at the top of his lungs.

“FUCK.”

VELL HARLAN AND THE DOOMSDAY DORMS 4:

THE LAST TIME

APRIL 9TH, 2024